Articles
Aug 1, 2026
The Path to Virtual Power Plants in South Africa
Thabo Molelekwa's article ends on a telling note: NERSA confirmed that VPPs have no regulatory definition.
Regularly ensure no new buildings or trees are casting shadows
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Regularly check the energy output to identify any issues
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Have a professional periodically inspect and service the system
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Be cautious not to put stress on the panels
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Prevent birds, rodents, and insects from nesting under panels
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Follow all guidelines to maintain the warranty validity
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The Mail & Guardian published a solid piece on virtual power plants in SA. Thabo Molelekwa's article ends on a telling note: NERSA confirmed that VPPs have no regulatory definition. Yet the instruments to get going already exist, pose no new requirements and are in use. We simply haven't called them by these names.Svein Jørgen Sønning of NODES made the key point: start with practical initiatives rather than wait for perfect regulation.
A household or business energy system needs only the registration and technical compliance already required, and dynamic optimisation for best returns is already standard asset management practice. Fleet operators doing this across many systems are in effect operating them as a block: a virtual power plant in all but name.
For municipalities and network operators, grid flexibility can be procured now under MFMA framework agreements and the eTenders infrastructure. The principle is to procure the problem, not the technology: pre-qualify multiple aggregators, set compensation terms, pay for what is delivered, and adjust as you learn. Ireland runs flexibility tenders through its own eTenders platform; the UK's distribution operators procure from competing providers the same way. New regulation becomes a factor in matters such as low-voltage customers' participation in trading, access to meter data for settlement verification, and the distributors' role in deploying smart bidirectional metering.On compensation: beyond procurement, the other route is the tariff itself. Time-of-use and dynamic prices only change behaviour if someone acts on them; most prosumers cannot watch tariffs and will not fiddle with settings. The VPP and its energy management layer acts on those signals automatically across thousands of systems, and that is what makes prosumers price-elastic: pairing a tariff with enabling technology roughly doubles the demand response delivered.
On data: data and trust are two sides of the same concern. South Africans who had to look after themselves during loadshedding will not hand over control of their private assets, or a view inside their homes, without a duty of care to them, their families and their businesses, and they do not have to. The VPP operator is an intermediary accountable in both directions: to the household for respecting its preferences, and to the network for delivering the contracted services. The network operator sees what it needs, net demand at the connection point; privacy is preserved and POPIA respected. What may have felt adversarial becomes productive: maximised returns for the asset owner, least-cost grid flexibility for the network operator.
Enerchy is founded on this principle: enabling individual choice that supports the collective good. People should opt in voluntarily, never be forced, and be free to choose who provides these services.
Let's get into it and let learnings inform efficient market rules as they develop.
